Our Thanksgiving day this year was a little non-traditional. We had no family over. We ate steak. We sat in the hot tub. All in all, it was a beautiful day.
To make up for the lack of traditional activities on Thanksgiving day, we spent the rest of the weekend in a flurry of holiday fun. My sister came over Friday and Saturday. We made clove oranges (you poke cloves through orange skins to make a sachet) and we made paper chains to decorate the house. We hung our Christmas lights, and ordered our holiday cards. We ate. A whole bunch – even if it wasn’t turkey.
But mostly, we carried on the tradition my Dad adopted late in life – we made lefse. Lefse is a traditional Scandinavian potato pancake – much like a potato tortilla. The are like gold – in that they taste fantastic, and they are scarce – it takes FOREVER to make them. You need all kinds of special tools – the board, the grill, the magic stick, the roller, the sleeve for the roller. A whole day netted us 4 dozen lefse. I cringe every time someone eats one, and have to hold myself back from saying “Do you KNOW how much that is worth!!!” Julie has already reported back with a count of how many they have consumed – since we know it will be another year before we commit a whole day to making more.
The good news is that we had a lot of help, we all got to wear aprons, and we watched the video we made last year of Dad teaching us to make lefse. Plus when we were done – we got to eat some (but just a little).
I had so many things to give thanks for, all weekend long – I hope you did too.
To make up for the lack of traditional activities on Thanksgiving day, we spent the rest of the weekend in a flurry of holiday fun. My sister came over Friday and Saturday. We made clove oranges (you poke cloves through orange skins to make a sachet) and we made paper chains to decorate the house. We hung our Christmas lights, and ordered our holiday cards. We ate. A whole bunch – even if it wasn’t turkey.
But mostly, we carried on the tradition my Dad adopted late in life – we made lefse. Lefse is a traditional Scandinavian potato pancake – much like a potato tortilla. The are like gold – in that they taste fantastic, and they are scarce – it takes FOREVER to make them. You need all kinds of special tools – the board, the grill, the magic stick, the roller, the sleeve for the roller. A whole day netted us 4 dozen lefse. I cringe every time someone eats one, and have to hold myself back from saying “Do you KNOW how much that is worth!!!” Julie has already reported back with a count of how many they have consumed – since we know it will be another year before we commit a whole day to making more.
The good news is that we had a lot of help, we all got to wear aprons, and we watched the video we made last year of Dad teaching us to make lefse. Plus when we were done – we got to eat some (but just a little).
I had so many things to give thanks for, all weekend long – I hope you did too.
mostlyjenine 
Good job next generations! Keep up those traditions…they make lasting memories.
LEFSE!!! My family is a family of lefse eaters too. We’re of Scandinavian and Norwegian descent and lefse is a definite treat. My grandma makes it…I hope she sends some this year! My mom made it one year…has all the tools…we’ll have to make it again sometime. But, not this year…she’s jetting off to Germany!! So…my question for you is this…real or from the box??
Ok, after all the other work – SO the box. Besides the fact that the recipe in the Magic Box (where the recipes were kept) clearly calls for box. Hey, who am I to make up my own rules?
I can’t WAIT to get our lefse in the mail! Thanks for thinking of us